geopolitical, precious minerals, influence struggles are at the heart of the crisis between Uganda and Rwanda on Congolese soil, analyzes the American researcher Jason Stearns.
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The rebels of the March 23 movement (M23) resumed hostilities in December 2021 and have been gaining ground since the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This armed group, whose last large offensive dates back to 2012, seized Bunagana on June 13, a strategic city on the Ugandan border.
The Congolese power accuses his Rwandan neighbor’s name of supporting the insurgents and of having committed “war crimes” on his soil. Uganda, which intervenes militarily in eastern DRC with the approval of the Congolese authorities, would also be involved.
Friday, June 17, according to security sources, a Congolese soldier was killed and two Rwandan police officers and wounded civilians during an exchange of shots at a border post in Goma, between the DRC and Rwanda, in a context extreme tensions.
“Everyone fights to keep their area of influence in this region extremely rich in gold, tin and other coveted minerals”, deciphers Jason Stearns, researcher and founder of the research group on the Congo of the University of New York.
What do we know of the rebels of the M23?
Jason Stearns their group comes from a historical rebellion, the Congolese gathering for democracy (RCD), a movement involved in the second Great War of the Congo (1998-2003) and supported by Rwanda. Following the 2003 peace agreements, the RCD – which controlled a third of the country – had presented a candidate for the 2006 presidential election but he only collected 1.7 % of the vote. Faced with this bitter failure and its loss of influence, a fringe of the movement created a new rebellion, from which the M23 came. This radicalized faction was structured around Congolese Tutsi chiefs like Laurent Nkunda, Bosco Ntaganda [condemned in 2019 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to thirty years in prison for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”] and Sultani Makenga.
In 2012, the M23 had managed to seize Goma, the capital of North Kivu, but it was defeated a year later by the Congolese army and the UN forces. The American pressures on the Rwandan regime were also decisive because Kigali then withdrew his support for the rebellion. Rebel commanders took refuge in military camps in Rwanda and Uganda. Their fate has still not been decided and today is one of the claims of the M23: to be integrated into the Congolese army.
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